Future history books will refer to the Occupy Wall Street movement as an epic phenomenon. For now, many are still trying to understand the concept and how it pertains to Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley, Grand Junction, Aspen, Durango, Boulder and their own local communities as well. A few days into the Occupy Wall Street movement, supporters from all over Colorado began gathering in different online forums, from Facebook to Twitter, finally emerging as a collective on Broadway and Colfax. Friday, Sept 23, was the first day of sign holding by approximately 25 people, including many commuters. The next day the group had doubled, and began their first march down 16th Street Mall. By the third night, Denver was a 24- hour occupation, consisting of about five people, and hasn’t stopped growing since; their last march turned out nearly 5,000.
With a few keystrokes and then a few more, a revolution began. Ignoring the movement has become difficult as it continues to grow exponentially. In the face of 4 am raids by Colorado State Troopers in riot gear, Denver Police Department standoffs with nonviolent protesters (again with police in riot gear), and unwarranteduses of pepper-spray and batons, many commuters have begun organizing in their local communities and creating what seems to be a second wave of occupations, known collectively as Occupy Colorado. The occupations located in every major Colorado city were already organizing shortly after Occupy Denver began. The backlash created by Governor John Hickenlooper and Mayor Michael Hancock’s responses to the protest, combined with the wildly unpopular encounters against riot police forces, resulting in several dozen arrests, have merely served to fuel the hunger of the Colorado population to right the injustices these occupations believe to be so wrong. A social networking site, called Occupy Colorado, has recently been designed to specifically allow a space for all those interested to communicate and network for the cause. Parts ofwww.occupycolorado.com state the following:
Occupy Colorado publicizes and promotes all Occupy teams and activities in the state. All posts and entries are visible to the public, you don’t have to be a member to read or view. The only exception is private messages between members. There are no ads, and no widgets or tools that would allow other sites to track your activity here. This makes it a little harder to post links on Facebook or Twitter, but we feel that keeping corporations out of your personal data is just as important as keeping their money out of politics.
To find out more information about what is going on locally, the following is a list of access points for the current occupations and as more develop, please get in touch:
OccupyDenver www.occupydenver.org Facebook: Occupy Denver Twitter @OccupyDenver You Tube Channel: #OccupyDenver
Occupy Boulder Facebook: Occupy Boulder
Occupy Fort Collins www.occupyfortcollins.org Facebook: Occupy Ft. Collins Twitter: @OccupyFTCollins
Occupy Colorado Springs Facebook: Occupy Colorado Springs Twitter: @OccupyCOSprings
Occupy Greeley: www.occupygreeley.org Facebook: Occupy Greeley Twitter: @OccupyGreeley
Occupy UNC Greeley Facebook: Occupy UNC
Occupy Pueblo www.occupypueblo.org Facebook: Occupy Pueblo Twitter: @OccupyPueblo
Occupy Durango www.occupydurango.wordpress.com Facebook: Occupy Durango
Occupy Aspen www.occupyaspen.com Facebook: Occupy Aspen Twitter: @OccupyAspen
Occupy Grand Junction Facebook: Occupy Grand Junction Twitter: @OccupyGJ_CO In the spirit of the Occupy movement which is built around equality, being leaderless, and the importance of the collective, Brandi and Nick write this blog collaboratively.
